I was reading Michael Loewe's book 'Bing' and something he said about punishment stood out to me.

Bing, who is a magistrate by this point, says to a criminal ''your hair will come off so that it will never grow back again'. How did they achieve that? When they say taking off all his hair are we talking about leaving him with stubble or him being completely bald?

Also it mentions that depending on your social status you might be tattooed. What would this tattoos have depicted? Presumably they were on the criminal's face?

Interested in the history behind the novel? Find a list of english language Three Kingdom sources here.